Original Reads

​Welcome PawSox fans of all ages to WBOB’s PawSox Weekly Notebook, a weekly guide to all what’s happening with the Columbus Avenue Crew (aka, the Pawtucket Red Sox). Well unlike the last couple of weeks, things are not so hot with the Pawtucket Red Sox. After winning 11 of their last 15 games, they fell into a big time losing streak at one of the worse possible times. Granted they were facing the top two teams in their division but it’s never fun when you’re on a losing streak. Hopefully the PawSox can rebound and get back into the winning column before things get too out of reach.

A Week in Review
Following Sunday’s doubleheader loss to the Rochester Red Wings, the PawSox continued their home stand when they welcomed in the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for 3 games. The last time these two teams played at McCoy was back on April 14 to April 16, where the PawSox won the series opener 6-1 and then the Iron Pigs took the next two games. Currently the Iron Pigs owned the season series 4-3 as the PawSox were looking to reverse that.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. For the first two games of the series, the PawSox were shut out (5-0 and 7-0 respectively). The last time the PawSox suffered back-to-back shutouts was back on July 8 & July 9 of the 2016 season where they were shut out in back-to-back games against the Durham Bulls (both times the score was 3-0).

It wasn’t until the 3rd inning of the series finale when the PawSox were able to score their first run since the 2nd inning of the second Rochester game on Sunday, June 18, a total of 25 scoreless innings. The last time the PawSox were held scoreless for 25 innings was back during the 2015 season where they were held scoreless for 27 innings against the Rochester Red Wings for 4 games from June 29 to July 1.

During the series finale against the Iron Pigs, the PawSox staked out a 3-1 lead going into the 9th inning. However things just imploded for the PawSox. With needing to record just two more outs, PawSox RHP Ty Buttrey proceeded to give up 2 runs as the PawSox and then RHP Chandler Shepherd gave up 3 more runs as the team ended up losing 6-3.

After the series against the Iron Pigs, the PawSox traveled on the road to Moosic, Pennsylvania for a 4-game weekend series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The PawSox ended up dropping the first two games to the RailRiders, getting outscored by a combined runs total of 20 to 3. On the following Saturday, the PawSox were able to snap their season high 8-game losing streak with an 8-0 shutout over the RailRiders. It was the first shutout win at PNC Field for the PawSox since May 10 during the 2016 season where the PawSox shutout the RailRiders 3-0.

Looking to salvage a series tie on Sunday, the PawSox took the field against the RailRiders. However the RailRiders ended up staking a 10-3 heading into the top of the 9th inning. During the inning the PawSox scored 6 runs, including 3 off of RF Bryce Brentz’s team leading 14th home run of the season, to make it 10-9. However the rally fell short as 1B Allen Craig struck out for the final out of the game.

Where They Stand
After this week, the PawSox dropped to in 4th place in the International League North with a record of 35-38 (.479). They are now are 12.5 games back behind the divisional leading Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, who are sitting at 49-27 (.645). In the Wild Card Standings, the PawSox are now 10.0 games behind the current Wild Card leader, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders, who are sitting at 46-29 (.613)

Just the Stats Jack
The following statistics are of players currently playing on the PawSox. This excludes players who were called up, traded, currently on the disabled list, or currently on the temporary inactive list.

At the Plate(*=min. 100 at-bats)
- LF Bryce Brentz leads the team in games played (60), at-bats (212), runs scored (33), home runs (14), RBIs (39), total bases (104), slugging/SLG (.491)*, and on-base plus slugging/OPS (.820)*. He is also tied with 3B Ryan Court in hits (54)
-Court also leads the team in on-base percentage/OBP (.357)*
- 3B Jantzen Witte leads the team in walks drawn (29)
- 3B Heiker Meneses leads the team in stolen bases (5)
- C Dan Butler leads the team in batting average (.269)

Start You Pitchers(*= min. 45.0 IP)- SP Henry Owens leads all starters in games started (14), hit batsmen (6), strikeouts (72), and opposing batting average (.224)*
- SP Marcus Walden leads all starters in games won (6) and ERA (3.68)*- SP Shawn Haviland leads all starters in innings pitched (75.2) and WHIP (1.15)*. He is also tied with teammate SP Kyle Kendricks for lead among starters in games completed (2) and shutouts (1)

Red Sox Rehab Watch
Currently there are no Boston Red Sox players on major league rehab assignment in Pawtucket right now.

Upcoming Games
The PawSox will be on the road to start off the week. They’ll get reacquainted with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for a 4-game midweek series from June 26 to June 29 at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Then the team will come back home to McCoy for the weekend before the 4th of July for a 4-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders from June 30 to June 3 with a fireworks show happening from July 1 to July 3 after the conclusion of each game.